Black and grey fine line tattoo of three swallows in flight across the side of a torso.

Three swallows in flight on the side

Fine line · Ribs · Black and grey · Photo

Three small swallows in flight are tattooed on pale skin, each drawn with delicate, feathery linework and soft grey shading. The birds are spaced diagonally across the flank, one near the top, one in the middle and one lower down. The image is black and grey against a plain, neutral background.

Fine line Ribs Swallow Bird Wing

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the swallows came back to the harbour wall the same week you left, and I counted them from the galley hatch like you always made me count gulls. Three of them, dipping and swinging over the chandler's roof, never once landing on the rigging the way the old hands said they would if the weather was turning. Cook says it's a good sign. Cook says a lot of things between the potato peelings and the tin of condensed milk.

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We sailed on the tide Tuesday with the Harriet's new mainsail still stinking of linseed. Mr Greaves swore at the bosun, the bosun swore at the cat, and the cat, who has no sense of the seasons, sat in the lee of the galley stove as if we were all going to sea just to keep her warm. I kept the bread dry and the kettle full and thought of you the whole of the Channel crossing.

The last morning, before the lines were cast off, I saw the birds again. They came down low across the slip, one high, one middling, one skimming near the water as if it owed them money, and I thought of the little drawing you pinned above my bunk, the one with the ink still smudged at the wing tips. You said a swallow always finds its way home. I told you that was a sailor's tale. Now I'm not so sure.

Write back to the Dolphin Street address. Tell me if the swallows have nested under the eaves yet. I'll look for them when we make port again, and if they're gone, I'll know you've been keeping watch for me.

Yours through wind and weather, Tom